Protect Your Brand

Are you a registered trademark holder or part of a qualifying community or organization? Sunrise is your opportunity to ensure your brand is protected. For Sunrise phases intended for trademark holders, they must first complete a one-time registration for their trademarks with the Trademark Clearinghouse.

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The Initial Launch Phase

The launch of a new TLD typically includes a series of phases before General Availability (GA) begins and the TLD is officially launched. Sunrise — the first and only mandatory phase — is primarily intended for trademark owners to register domains that fall under their trademark. Some TLDs may have additional Sunrise phases for members of qualifying communities and organizations.

Sunrise phases typically last 30 days. To participate in the initial Sunrise, trademark holders must be validated in the Trademark Clearinghouse. For TLDs with additional Sunrise phases there may be special requirements such as proving you are part of a qualifying community or organization.

The Easy Way to Register Trademarks

To protect intellectual property on the Internet, the Trademark Clearinghouse (TMCH) serves as a centralized database for trademark information. For trademark holders, this simplifies Sunrise registrations and trademark enforcement during General Availability. Any trademark holder, whether that be a private person or a company, can submit their trademarks for review. When approved, a unique code is issued that trademark holders use when submitting registrations during the Sunrise launch phase.

Sunrise FAQs

Sunrise is an initial mandatory period of at least 30 days before domain names are offered to the general public. Trademark owners can take advantage of the initial Sunrise phase to safeguard the domain name that matches their trademark. A validated trademark from the Trademark Clearinghouse is required for the initial Sunrise phase. Some TLDs may also chose to launch subsequent Sunrise phases open to members of specific communities or organizations.

For the initial Sunrise phase, all registrants must have a validated trademark entry in the Trademark Clearinghouse, plus any additional TLD specific information required by that registry. You will need to submit your validated trademark information along with your Sunrise application. For additional Sunrise periods, registries may require other specific information.

The Trademark Clearinghouse (TMCH) is the rights protection mechanism built into ICANN’s new gTLD program. The Clearinghouse allows brand owners to submit their trademark data into one centralized database, prior to and during the launch of new gTLDs.

No, the Watchlist is an expression of interest only. When the registries open you will be notified to take action on any domains in your Watchlist for entry into Sunrise, Landrush or General Availability.

The registries are free to choose their own contention policy. However, most registries will use an auction platform to determine a winner. If you are not awarded the domain through the results of the auction, then your registration fee will be refunded.